A significant manifesto in relation to the dynamic, fragmented world of consumerism,
which drives
the expansion of the urban environment, is the publication of the 'Futurist Synthetic Theatre' of
1915. This article was produced by the Italian futurists, Marinetti, Emilio Settimelli and Bruno
Corra.
"It's stupid
to want to explain with logical minuteness everything entirely, in all its causes
and consequences, because reality throbs around us, bombards us with squalls of
fragments of inter-connected events, mortised and tenoned together, confused, mixed up,
chaotic. E.g. it's stupid to act out a contest between two persons (the artist and viewer)
always in an orderly, clear and logical way, since in daily life we nearly always encounter
mere flashes of argument made momentary by our modern experience, in a tram, a cafe, a
railway station, which remain cinematic in our minds like fragmentary dynamic symphonies
of gestures, words, lights and sounds"
In 1919, the architect Gropius, founder of the Weimar Bauhouse school, spoke of staging
creative
work with an 'architectonic spirit', as an urban experience. A Gothic cathedral was a symbol of the
Bauhous' first proclamation, chosen because medieval cathedrals were the outcomes of the
collaborative effort of a number of practitioners within a common architectural environment.
A later model of collaborative art work in the 1930s was the shopping arcade, the
forerunner of
today's retail mall. Walter Benjamin noted the mythic, fairytale elements in the shopping arcades
that had sprung up in Europe's major cities. These had been spawned by the series of
international fairs staged from 1851 onwards. They have been described as 'wonderlands of
consumerism'.
We therefore have two versions of spectacular art focused on the sculptural possibilities
of space
itself involving a convergence of the works of massed religion with the mass culture of comodity
capitalism. The common feature is a three dimensional assemby of objects which people can view
from more than one angle.
These ideas are forerunners of the 'installation, a generic term covering a large
area of 21st century
practice and enquiry suggestive of the notion of 'exhibition'. 'display' or 'assemblage'. Installation
describes a kind of art-making which rejects concentration on one object in favour of a
consideration of the relationships between a number of elements or the interaction between things
and their contexts in a social space. There is a growing sense that the viewer is important
because an installation's meaning is actively produced in its reception as much as its production.
This is inherent in the idea of psychogeography, the study of the specific effects of the
geographical environment on the emotions and behaviour of individuals passing through a number
of different ambiences of an urban environment. The experience of everything around about has an
effect on the disinterested yet engaged observer. An installation is the environment implying that
the spectator should inhabit it as he or she inhabits the world. This is an important feature of land
art, a place out of doors where an installation is placed or where the landform is incorporated into
the work of art.
The land artist Robert Smithson formulated the distinction between a Site, a particular
place or
location in the world at large and a Nonsite, a representation in the gallery of that place in the form
of transported material, photographs, maps and related documentation. Smithson's Site is a place
not only of environmental, but also of historical and even archaeolgical interests. As such is
presents both the material world and its notional layer as a rich resource for inner perception and
comprehension.
